The Weekend Rent: Revisit the First Two The Chronicles of Narnia Films

The widest release this weekend is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third chapter in the Narnia series and the first one shown in 3D in select theaters. The Dawn Treader is a ship on which Edmund and Lucy return to Narnia with their cousin, Eustace, where they meet Caspian X (Ben Barnes)—now the king of Narnia. Expect Tilda Swinton to return as the White Witch and other surprises in three dimensions, but don't get lost in a bunch of Narnia nonsense if you're a newbie—the first two installments are available on both DVD and Blu-ray.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: The first film in the fantasy series based on the Christian-themed books by C.S. Lewis was directed by New Zealander Andrew Adamson. The story follows four British children (William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and Georgie Henley) who are evacuated during the Blitz to the countryside where they find a wardrobe that serves as a portal to the fantastical world of Narnia. Among the mystical creatures (including a faun and chattty beavers) they meet there is the lion Aslan, with whom the children ally against the evil White Witch and her agenda of keeping the world under an eternal winter.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian: The four Pevensie children return to Narnia to aid Prince Caspian in his struggle for the throne against his wicked uncle, King Miraz (Sergio Castellitto). One year has passed for the Pevensie foursome in the real world, but they realize 1,300 years have passed in the world of Narnia when they return. Although the film was again directed by Adamson, this is the last Narnia film to be distributed by Disney due to its disappointing box-office take in the U.S. (it still made magic in the rest of the world). The director upped the action in this sequel by adding a sequence not in the novel and wanted to highlight the novel's darker tone by making the Narnians look more feral since they have been hiding from persecution. Fox has now taken over the franchise and will distribute the next films in the planned heptalogy, including The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

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